A Christmas First
by slappywhite
Summary: A Christmas first for Hodges!


**DISCLAIMER**** : I wish I did, but obviously I don't own CSI nor any of the characters. They all belong to CBS and the CSI franchise, respectfully. Although, I'd snatch up a certain actor in a heartbeat, if I could. But for now, I give you this.**

**A/N - Apologies in advance if you come across any spelling errors or errors regarding grammar. There was no beta used. This was quickly put together and posted to take advantage of the holiday season. Thanks for taking the time to read. I hope you enjoy! Happy Holidays.**

**_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________**

If anyone had told him that he'd be sitting in front of a fully decorated tree on Christmas morning and actually enjoy it, David Hodges would have probably been quipped with some snide remark about how the holiday was nothing but a corporate business out to suck every last penny from the pockets of the average working Joe. That or he'd probably just laugh the comment off, not giving it a chance to manifest into a second thought. But as he glanced down at his watch which read 7:32am, David allowed himself to smile as he raised his freshly poured cup of coffee to his lips for a taste.

Many things had transpired over the past several months, he could even go as far as to say the past year, which in turn, prompted him to step back and take a good look at his accomplishments up to this point. His career as a lab technician was nothing to laugh about nor be ashamed of. He had stride to become one of the top in the country in his area of expertise, with official documents to prove it, but outside of that, he had nothing. Well, that was up until recently.

Kicking his bare feet up onto the small rectangular coffee table just in front of him, resting one atop the other, David eased back into the sofa he had perched on and folded his arms across his chest, his coffee still accessible for drinking. He'd been nearing ten months in his new apartment, and was quietly celebrating his first Christmas in his new place. Usually, in the past, he'd readily make himself available to pick up a few extra shifts during the holiday season, to allow others with family and loved ones to be together, but this year it was different. This year, he had decided that he had paid his dues to the fight against crime, hardly ever took any time off throughout the year, and felt he deserved this time off just like any other member of the night shift of the Las Vegas Crime Lab. With the departures of both Sara Sidle and Gil Grissom, and the still semi-fresh wound of Warrick's death, he felt that there were plenty of "newbie's" now within the department to take on the crap shifts of the holidays. If he had learned anything from the CSI's death in particular, was that life was too short to sit back and do nothing. You could be here one day and gone the next! Of course there was indeed another reason, and as much as he tried to tell himself that this particular reason wasn't the deciding point behind his decision, David knew deep down, it really was!

As Kobayashi Maru emerged from the bedroom and hopped up into his owner's lap, circling several times before plopping down into a furry little ball with a yawn, David's eyes drifted from the mighty tree that stood before him to the heavily decorated room that he found himself encased in. If he had, had his own way, more then half of the colored abominations would never have made their way inside his front door, but as much as he hated to admit it to himself, he was a sucker for that innocent, pouty mouthed smile, playful persistence, and he quickly found himself giving in to the spirit of the holiday. Although looking at everything now, things didn't look nearly as bad as he had thought it was going to be. It fact, the decorations kinda felt inviting and warm and gave him a feel of being home. Of course he would never openly admit to that, mainly because he enjoyed the little disagreements and the frustrated looks he would receive in response to any of his random comments when it came to decor. Perhaps a little too much!

"Traitor!" David smirked in reference to the feline who seemed to have given up on his owner in favor of their recent house guest, as he smoothed the slender cat down with his free hand and lifted the steaming cup to his lips with the other, taking a moment to savor the delightful shot of caffeine that surged through his body. This was his first Christmas away from his mother since his move back to Vegas from Los Angeles, and though he was used to being on his own during the holidays in the past, as was she, he couldn't help but wonder how his mother was dealing without his presence in her home. He had to remember to call her later to make sure everything was okay.

The others could say what they wanted about him, he didn't particularly care, but he knew he wasn't a complete bastard with no heart. He did have a heart, but was very protective over showing it. He only allowed the ones he truly cared about and who shared to same feeling back, permission to see it. It was probably a poor way to live, but it was the only way David knew. Yet over the past several months, since Warrick's death in fact, he found himself willingly exposing his true feelings a little more, which all stemmed from his self revelation not long after the incident.

"You know, if you don't like it, you don't have to force yourself to pretend like you do, just to satisfy me!" Came a tired voice near the archway leading into the hall, causing David to break his train of thought and look up in the direction in which the voice came from. Kobe's ears perked up and it wasn't long after that, that the cat excused itself from his owner's lap in favor of their house guests' legs and the attention she gave him.

"It's tolerable!" David replied with a slight shrug and a playful smirk before he patted the cushion next to him in hopes his guest would join him on the couch.

"Personally, I think you like it . . . more then you're willing to admit, but you're just being an ass about it!" The young lady's smile completed the sarcastic little comment as she quickly processed the words and body language of the trace tech, only to come to the conclusion that the man was a horrible liar. Especially in her presence.

"I think you should stop overanalyzing the situation at hand before you get yourself into trouble by saying something you'll end up regretting." David mumbled as he took another sip from his mug, and carefully watched the brunette as she pushed away from the archway and slowly made her way toward the sofa he was sitting on. But instead of sitting next to him on the cushion he'd patted just moments before, the female gracefully lifted her leg up over his and casually straddled her own body over his, facing him.

The young lady had been dressed in a pair of his boxers and a Led Zeppelin band T-shirt, _(Greg would have been proud of the fact the man actually owned a band T-shirt) _that was probably two sizes to big on her slender frame, but looked amazingly hot nonetheless. She was sporting the typical bed-head hair do, but that didn't seem to bother David as he reached up, drawing a single strand back, tucking it behind her ear. He knew that look though. The expression of her knowing better, and he knew that there was no getting rid of it until he confessed.

Laying his cup of coffee down, David didn't bother hiding his intentions as he let his fingers splay across the soft skin of her thighs, inching them slowly up toward the shorts until the tips of his fingers disappeared beneath the material of the boxers. "You know, you're heavier then Kobe!" He grinned wickedly, receiving a girly punch in the chest like he had expected from the feisty brunette. It was the typical type of relationship they shared, making playful digs at each other and it seemed to work well for them, but what he couldn't understand though, was how she could take that as an insult seeing Kobe was a cat that maybe weighed six pounds, tops. That was, unless she was just playing along and any chance to get a free gab in at him, she'd gladly take.

"Haven't I taught you anything?" She huffed, attempting to climb down from the technician's lap as he tightened his grip on her hips, refusing to let her move from her spot.

"I've learned that there's a hell of a lot more to Clark County's DNA specialist then just a cute smile and what you attempt to pass off as 'the innocent little girl routine'." A smug grin crept to the corners of David's mouth as he set his eyes on the girl in front of him. "I wonder what Mr. and Mrs. Simms would think of their darling little girl if they knew just how naughty she really was?"

There was a moment's hesitation as the two eyed one another before David felt a sharp pain, about the size of a female hand, engulf his groin, and his idea of comfort at that moment was comfort no more. Trying to keep discreet, David took several short breaths, and swallowed hard, trying to ignore the pain as he forced himself to keep his eyes trained in on hers.

"Are you trying to flirt with me Simms?" The technician finally managed to breathe out as if it took everything within him to complete the sentence.

Her response was simple. A roll of the eyes. She loosened her grip and frowned. "Just when I think you've made a significant step in the right direction, you turn around and start behaving like an adolescent boy."

This time around, she made more of a serious attempt to hoist herself off and would have succeeded if David hadn't of made a last second effort to reach up and catch her, forcing her body to fall back against his. "Okay, okay! I'll let you win this round.. I'm sorry."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me!"

"I didn't know that David Hodges was even capable of such a valued gesture as giving out an apology." Wendy giggled at the look of annoyance the man gave her as she reached up and cupped both sides of his face with her hands before leaning in to perform a single act of affection, finding his lips with her own.

"You think..," he began as they pulled apart just enough to catch a breath before their lips found each others once again, "that this will... simply cancel out any of... your wrong doings?"

The young lady leaned back with a smile and nodded, ignoring the fact that her hands were now slowly inching down over his chest in a suggestive manor. "I was hoping it'd do the trick on you. Did it work?"

David looked deep into her brown eyes that lit up just as much as every light they'd placed on the Christmas tree and couldn't disguise the smile that seemed to overtake his mouth. It was her feistiness that he first fell in love with. That and her determination. And the fact that she refused to play up the typical girlfriend type status of being nothing but a bag of emotional drama, David knew that as awkward as this relationship may have seemed to the casual onlooker, they were very much into each other.. even more so when the insults began to fly. It was their little way of flirting with each other. Like the little boy who would tug on the little girls pigtails.

"Looks like the fat man found you after all." He commented a short while later, changing the subject as he pointed past her and toward the few packages that were placed beneath the tree.

Turning to look in the direction of where he was pointing, Wendy snapped her head back to look at him. "David! you shouldn't have. I thought we decided not..."

"Don't look at me. That son-of-a-bitch still managed to find his way inside even after I locked up all the doors and windows last night. You know, if you really wanted to get technical about it, that's a classic b&e. The man should be arrested."

Giggling, Wendy hopped up with no resistance from the man beneath her this time, and hurried over to the tree like a child on Christmas morning, kneeling down to get a better look. In David's eyes she looked like an angel... Wait! Where the hell did that come from? When did David Hodges become a softy?

The first gift she opened, caught her a little by surprise. It was the game, Labrats, that he'd worked so hard on over the past couple of years. "It's a complete and fully revised copy of the game and I wanted you to have the first copy." He managed a slight smile as thoughts of their last encounter with the game quickly came flooding back into his mind. He'd made a complete ass of himself in the locker room months back, which in turn, infuriated her and when he recalled the very moment he actually had a chance to smooth things out with the young lady, he proved once again just how much of a pompous ass he could be.

"I took it upon myself to right the one thing that went so horribly wrong." David took a breath and paused for a moment before continuing. "I was a complete jackass for it and never realized how much of an effect it had. I'm sorry for hurting and disappointing you."

Wendy took a moment to observe the game pieces belonging to the game, hers in particular, before allowing herself to smile. "Yeah, you were a jackass, no arguments here. You could have avoid a lot of the drama had you've stopped and thought about what you were doing and the effect it could have, but just for the record, I forgave you a long time ago! Consider it somewhat of an obstacle that we had to endure to get to this point in the relationship. But at the same time, I hope it's a lesson you've learned and will keep in the forefront of your mind just incase you decide to try and pull off another ridiculous and thoughtless stunt."

Holding onto her every word, David smiled a truly genuine smile, and nodded in agreement. She was right! She was always right! There was no point in trying to argue with her, especially in this situation because what he had done was indeed stupid and thoughtless. In all honesty, he really didn't deserve her, but somewhere down the line, Wendy had found it in her heart to forgive and quickly learned to tolerate and he was more then grateful for that second and third chance she had given him.

Pointing to the second, Wendy reached over and picked up a small flat rectangular box, holding it close to her ear as she gently shook it to see if she could recognize the sound that it made. Her silence and curious eyes told him that she hadn't a clue as to what the hidden treasure was inside. "You'll never guess what it is, so just go ahead and open it."

"You don't know that! Give me a minute." She eyed the man now perched on the edge of the sofa, with playful suspicion as she began to shake the gift a little more. Could he have been thoughtful enough as to buy her jewelry? It was her first thought, but this was Hodges! A man with little clue as to how to properly speak or act in the presence of a lady, let alone buy the perfect gift for them. Okay, she had to give him a little more credit then that. He was making a valid effort in trying to understand the fairer sex!

"You willing to wager a little something on those very words, Simms?" David smugly responded as the young lady turned her back to him as if it gave her that extra needed space between them to try and figure out what was inside the neatly wrapped parcel.

"Shhh!"

Laughing to himself, David once again leaned back into the sofa and reached for his mug in amusement, wondering just how long it was going to take her before she gave up. Sipping on his coffee, he wasn't surprised at how quick the DNA tech gave up on her own actions in favor of tearing the wrapping from the box.

It was the expression on her face and the look she gave him after studying the contents within the small box, that brought a warm smile to his face. He had finally done something right. Inside the small package was a simple yet slender gold necklace with a small, single DNA string traced with white gold that linked in the middle to complete the necklace. David had spent months searching for the pendant that best suited Wendy, and the day he spied the gold DNA string, he knew the search was over. It was a lot pricier then he had expected, but the young lady he was purchasing the pendant for, in his eyes, was worth every penny... and more.

Oh how he was becoming yet another victim to the commercialism of the holiday. The only difference this time was he didn't mind it.

Wendy stared at the gift for another moment or two before she looked over in David's direction. Holding the rectangular box up and pointing to it, she suddenly found herself at a loss for words. When did David Hodges become so thoughtful and sensitive toward the holiday? She knew there were tears that were starting to whelm in the corners of her eyes as she tried so desperately to blink them away.

He awkwardly grinned, setting his empty mug down on the coffee table before him, and stood, making his way around the table. Once he reached the spot she had been perched in, David extended his hand out to help her up. Without a word, he picked the necklace from the box she'd been holding and repositioned himself until he was standing just behind her. Automatically, Wendy tossed her hair to one side and lifted it from her neck to allow David the access needed to slip and clasp the necklace around her neck.

Once the procedure had been complete, David's hands came to rest on the brunette's shoulders, and he closed the gap between them until his lips found the small sensitive patch of skin that hid just behind her earlobe. As his lips to paid special attention to that particular area, she tilted her head to one side, allowing his hands to slip from her shoulders and slowly inch down across the length of her arms until they found her waist. He pulled her into firmly in to his body until a satisfied moan found its way from her lips.

"If you look beneath the foam the necklace was on in the box, you'll find one last thing." David whispered as his mouth found and took in the lobe of her ear to nibble on.

Curious, Wendy lifted the small box up so she could remove the white foam that was neatly placed inside to reveal two brass keys that were hidden underneath. Giggling, she plucked them from the box and looked at them a little more carefully. "I sure hope you haven't completely lost your mind and tell me something lame like these being the keys to your heart and soul."

David couldn't help but laugh.

"..Because I totally fell for the sarcastic, self opinionated and self-centered bastard that more often then not, infuriates me! Not a mushy, all lovy dovy, emotional man with no backbone."

"It's a key to the apartment here. I figured you've been coming here long enough now that you could use your own key. I mean, there will be times that I'll be working late or opposite shifts from you and by having your own set of keys, you can come and go as you please, check our mail..."

"Our mail?" Wendy questioned, interrupting. "Working late or opposite shifts? Come and go as I please?" Wendy turned in his arms to study the expression on his face. To see if he was actually being serious. "Are you asking me..."

"To move in with me? Yes! I mean, that is if you want to." He shrugged looking toward the floor as the awkwardness he was trying to keep at bay began to show. "If your uncomfortable with the idea or your not ready.."

"Oh contraire my sarcastic little lab geek. I'm more then comfortable and ready to take the next step in our relationship." Wendy smiled, smoothing her hands across his chest once more, as she watched the relief cross his face before letting her arms find their way up around his neck, pulling him in to a welcoming hug. "Question is, are you ready for such a step?"

"If I wasn't, do you honestly think I'd be giving you your own set of keys? I might be crazy, but I'm not insane! I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

Feeling the warmth emanating from her body as he held her close to his, his arms comfortably situated snugly around her waist, David knew that for the first time, things were going to be okay for him... between them. He finally felt the safety and comfort he long since searched for, in the arms of one DNA technician, and honestly believed that this was going to be the beginning of a new life for him, filled with love and companionship. Something unfamiliar to him, but something he was ready to experience. She was probably the best thing to ever happen to him... No! She _**was**_ the best thing to ever happen to him.

"I don't have anything that will even come close to what you've given me, gift wise!" She muffled into his neck. "I feel kind of embarrassed."

Pulling back enough to look her in the eyes, David withdrew his hands from around her waist and cupped her face. "I couldn't have asked for a better gift. You've stood up to me, put my in my place and gave me countless chances to try and redeem myself."

"As wonderful as it is that you are being all thoughtful and sensitive, what some may even consider a Christmas miracle, please don't change completely for me or on my account. I love you for who you are, not what I can make you into." Wendy confessed before gladly welcoming a passionate kiss from the snarky trace tech.

"Merry Christmas Simms!"

"Merry Christmas David."


End file.
